UPDATE 3.30pm:

Thales Australia says there will be “no significant impact” on current full-time employees of its Bendigo plant after missing out on securing another Defence Force contract.

A spokesperson said it was likely that had the company been successful in its bid as a subcontractor to General Dynamics Land Systems, a “substantial amount of work” would have been undertaken in Bendigo, most probably assembly, systems integration and testing.

The spokesperson said the company was disappointed to have not been selected to proceed further.

“As a subcontractor to General Dynamics Land Systems, we believe their LAV 6.0 CRV is a great example of a modern day and highly capable combat reconnaissance vehicle,” the spokesperson said.

“However, we respect the down-select decision by the Department of Defence, and will quickly move on to focus on other opportunities.”

The spokesperson said the contract was worth $4-5 billion, but this included the department’s own costs and the majority of industry revenue would have gone to GDLS and another subcontractor, had their bid been successful.

Bendigo MP Lisa Chesters said she would seek an urgent meeting with Defence Industry Minister Christopher Pyne, describing the decision as a missed opportunity to bolster Bendigo’s position as a defence manufacturing hub.

“Bendigo Thales already manufactures the Bushmaster and Hawkei, and being able to manufacture the LAND 400 really would have strengthened our capacity in terms of armoured defence vehicles,” she said.

Ms Chesters questioned how the vehicles in question would integrate with those already being produced by Thales.

The Department of Defence has not responded to requests for comment.

EARLIER:

THE company manufacturing replacements for the Australian Defence Force’s Land Rover fleet in Bendigo has missed out this time on another defence contract.

The Department of Defence has announced BAE Systems Australia Limited and Rheinmetall Landsysteme Gmbh have been shortlisted to proceed to the next stage of evaluation in the federal government’s search for new light armoured vehicles, knocking Thales out of the running.

Thales has a plant in Bendigo that will produce 1100 Hawkei vehicles for the Defence Force under a $1.3 billion contract awarded last year.

The Bendigo plant also manufactures the force’s Bushmaster vehicles.

Federal Member for Bendigo Lisa Chesters has voiced her dissatisfaction with the decision.

More to come.